Boss allegedly threatens staff who talked to Fair Work with sack

A Gold Coast security company owner is facing charges in the Federal Circuit Court for allegedly sacking a worker sick with pneumonia, threatening to sack staff who spoke to the Fair Work Ombudsman and underpaying staff.

Adam Marcinkowski and his company VIP Security Services Pty Ltd are facing charges for taking "unlawful adverse" action against three staff members and underpaying staff more than $15,000, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

The security company was contracted to provide services at a range of Gold Coast Council sites, including three libraries, for 24 months before April this year.

FWO inspectors visited a number of council sites last year to check whether staff were being paid minimum entitlements, after which the former Palmer United Party candidate allegedly threatened to sack staff if they spoke with FWO inspectors.

The Ombudsman claims that Mr Marcinkowski told a supervisor to go around to the sites and if anyone had spoken with inspectors, to tell them "they can just f---ing go straight to the dole queue ... they're getting the sack."

Mr Adam Marcinkowski

Following the alleged threat, the Ombudsman claims Mr Marcinkowski then took unlawful action against three employees for exercising workplace rights.

One employee was allegedly sacked for seeking advice from the FWO about his workplace rights after his hours were reduced.

The Ombudsman claims another employee was dismissed for refusing to sign a back-dated agreement and another after he allegedly failed to immediately return to work after spending a week in hospital with pneumonia.

The Ombudsman claims Mr Marcinkowski and his company also underpaid three guards a total of $15,938 over 15 months. The company has since back-paid the guards in full, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Fairfax Media contacted Mr Marcinkowski, who declined to comment.

VIP Security faces penalties of up to $54,000 per contravention and Mr Marcinkowski of up to $10,800 per contravention.

The matter was listed in the Federal Circuit Court in Brisbane on August 14.

This is a copy of an article published by Brisbane Times on July 12 2017.